Monday, December 29, 2014

To the United States government and the Castro regime we say, not in our name!

Statement by the Free Cuba Foundation in response to changes in U.S. - Cuba relations

Silent vigil for Brothers to the Rescue shoot down victims

On 17 December 2014, President
Barack Obama announced a change in U.S. Cuba policy to loosen travel and
economic policies and re-establish diplomatic relations. The Free Cuba
Foundation believes that if the President’s objective is improved human rights and
freedom for Cubans on the island, these changes reflect an alarming level of
naivety and ignorance on the subject and outline a path that can actually harm
the Cuban pro-democracy movement and its march towards freedom For this reason,
FCF feels the need to make its position clear in the following statement.
The Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) was founded as a youth movement in 1993.
Throughout its history, FCF has been a steadfast and independent voice in favor
of nonviolent resistance to injustice and tyranny. We have consistently spoken up
for victims of the dictatorship demanding justice while advocating freedom and
national reconciliation. Freedom will emerge within Cuba from the bottom up not
from initiatives by the dictatorship or the United States that until now have
only served to legitimize a brutal totalitarian dictatorship. Our movement
follows the nonviolent path of Cuba’s internal democratic opposition in
embracing the principles of strategic nonviolence. We have demonstrated our
commitment to non-violence through our support of Concilio Cubano, the Varela
Project and other opposition initiatives for nonviolent change that have
existed in a hostile national and international environment. FCF will continue
to pursue the goal of the non-violent opposition.

We agree with President Obama on one general observation from his December 17
statement, that one cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different
result. Unfortunately the efforts of the Clinton Administration to engage the
Castro dictatorship as well as loosen sanctions before and after 1996 went
unmentioned in President Obama’s comments. President Clinton began joint
military exercises with the Castro regime in 1994 in pursuit of normalized
relations. The shoot down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24,
1996 by Castro regime MiGs which killed Armando Alejandre Jr. (age 45), Carlos
Alberto Costa (age 29), Mario Manuel de la Peña (age 24), and Pablo Morales
(age 29) led to the passage and signing of The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity
(Libertad) Act by Congress as an alternative to military action in an election
year.

Murdered by Castro regime on February 24, 1996

The purpose of the attack however was not to sabotage U.S.-Cuba relations,
but to cover up a massive crackdown underway in Cuba at the time to crush a
national gathering called Concilio Cubano and thereby crush the aspirations of
Cuban democrats in the island to peacefully gather and discuss the future of
their country Despite this act of state terrorism against Americans, President
Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel Castro in 2000 and loosened sanctions that
opened cash and carry exports from American corporations and the Castro regime
later that same year. This change in policy turned the United States into one
of the top five trading partners of the Castro regime.

Economic sanctions were never designed to overthrow the dictatorship but were
part of a policy of containment to prevent the spread of its totalitarian
model. The rise of Hugo Chavez and the spread of Cuban influence in Venezuela
began during Bill Clinton’s presidency and are now harming the entire region
undermining the democratic gains of the 1980s and early 1990s. Despite this
disaster the Obama Administration began in 2009 to loosen sanctions on the
Cuban dictatorship. The Castro regime’s response was to take Alan Gross, a U.S.
citizen hostage. The Obama administration remained very low key about Gross’s
arrest, and it was 25 days before U.S. diplomats even saw this jailed American.
FCF believes that this lack of concern sent a message to the dictatorship that
they could continue to arbitrarily detain Gross and use him as a bargaining
chip in their goals to secure the release of five Cuban spies captured in 1998.
These five had not only engaged in spying on US military facilities but planned
terrorist acts on U.S. soil and were criminally involved in the February 24,
1996 shoot down.

As was the case in 1996 this policy of appeasement had dire consequences for
the democratic opposition in Cuba which suffered several setbacks over the next
four years. Prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo died on hunger strike
under suspicious circumstances in 2010; Ladies in White founder Laura Inés
Pollán Toledo died from a suspicious illness in 2011; and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas
and Harold Cepero died in the summer of 2012, under circumstances that point to
a state security killing. Rising violence against opposition activists,
including machete attacks, is a new and disturbing phenomenon.

FCF is concerned that releasing the three remaining spies, including Gerardo
Hernandez who was serving two life sentences, one of them for conspiracy to
murder four members of Brothers to the Rescue in exchange for Gross and an
unknown Cuban intelligence operative, may lead to the Castro regime murdering
more innocents inside and outside of Cuba. We also know as does the regime that
due to short term economic interests that economic engagement with the
dictatorship will not be seriously impacted by whatever new atrocities are
committed. Additionally, the hostage demand having been met by the United
States government also sets a dangerous precedent for Americans traveling
abroad. Add to this the normalization of diplomatic relations and the further
loosening of sanctions and the signal sent to the hardline elements within the regime
is clear: operating with criminal impunity delivers results. This was the same
message sent by President Clinton in 2000.

FCF and its members are disturbed by the President’s statement on December 19,
2014 that the 1996 shoot down was not a premeditated move by Castro but a
“tragic circumstance." This statement was deficient on two basic points.
First of all, two planes were shot down over international airspace
not one as he stated in the press conference. More importantly, the president’s
statement ignored both documented evidence as well as court decisions and
investigations by international human rights bodies that have concluded that
the attack was indeed a premeditated extrajudicial execution as demonstrated by
the points below:

1) Radio communications between the MiG29 and the military base clearly show
that the fighter planes were sent out before the Brothers to the Rescue
aircraft arrived at the 24th parallel level, that they were searching for a
specific target, and that they even decided not to attempt any warning
maneuvers to make the shoot down easier for the Cuban MiG pilots.

2) The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ conclusion stated the
following:
“From the circumstances surrounding the events of 24 February 1996, from the
disproportionate and indiscriminate use of lethal force applied to the civilian
aircraft, from the intensity of that force, and from the way in which the
authorities at the Havana military control tower congratulated the MiG-29
pilots after they had carried out their orders, the Commission finds sufficient
evidence that Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando
Alejandre were arbitrarily or extrajudicially executed at the hands of agents
of the Cuban State. Consequently, the Cuban State is responsible for violating
the right to life, as enshrined in Article I of the American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man.”
3) U.S. courts have also found the Castro regime guilty of premeditation in
this shoot down:

A.) U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King found Cuba guilty in civil court of
planning the shoot down before the actual attack, and noted that there had been
ample time to issue warnings to the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft if these
had been needed.
B.) A jury in criminal court presided by U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard found
Miami-based Cuban spy Gerardo Hernandez guilty of conspiracy to commit murder
because of his role in providing information to the Cuban government on the
flight plans of Brothers to the Rescue.
C.) On August 21, 2003 a U.S. grand jury indicted the two fighter pilots and
their commanding general on murder charges for the 1996 shoot down.

4) A Cuban pilot saw Cuban MiGs rehearsing the shoot down six days before.

General Ruben Martinez Puente, Francisco Perez-Perez, Lorenzo Alberto Perez
Perez who were indicted on four counts of murder, two counts of destruction of
aircraft and one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals in August of 2003
and Juan Pablo Roque indicted in May 1999 as a foreign agent (although he
played a role in the shootdown) have yet to be pursued to the full extent of
the law.

Silent vigil for Brothers to the Rescue shoot down victims

Every year since the week following the 1996 shoot-down, FCF members have
joined together to hold a silent vigil at Florida International University on
February 24th between 3:21pm and 3:27pm at the times both planes were blown up
by Castro’s MiGs in remembrance of Armando, Carlos, Mario, and Pablo who gave
their lives in service to others in a continuing demand for justice. This
tradition has been maintained for the past 18 years and next year on Tuesday,
February 24, 2015 at 3:21pm we will gather with the families of the four
martyrs.

Mohandas Gandhi once observed that "Impure means lead to impure ends"
and unfortunately the world may now see this theorem put into practice once
again in the relations between Cuba and the United States. The day after
President Obama made his statement reports emerged that Cuba’s Coast Guard had
rammed and sunk a boat carrying 32 Cuban refugees. This atrocity was
disturbingly reminiscent of a similar incident when, on July 13, 1994, under
Bill Clinton’s watch, Cuban agents murdered 37 Cuban men, women and children
attempting to escape in a tugboat.

We the present and former members of
the Free Cuba Foundation say to the United States government and the Castro
regime that the fruits that have emerged thus far from these negotiations point
to the impure means upon which they were founded and will only lead to more
grief. Therefore, with great respect we say, not in our name!

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The Free Cuba Foundation is an action oriented youth movement committed to defending human rights, support the Cuban internal democratic opposition, and advocate for the principles of Gandhian non-violence.